VANCOUVER - International Olympic Committee members will be looking for answers this week about where 2010 Games organizers plan to house extra officials and the international media.
There may also be discussions about how to divvy up television revenues from the Games -- a subject that needs to be firmed up before Vancouver Olympic officials can finalize their much-awaited business plan.
"The agenda will simply be a review of all aspects of Games preparation,'' said Michael Chambers, president of the Canadian Olympic Committee and a member of VANOC, the Vancouver organizing committee.
Members of the IOC's Coordination Commission for Vancouver 2010 will be in the city between Tuesday and Thursday. That's the unwieldy title of the IOC group in charge of checking in twice a year to ensure the Games host is progressing according to plan.
VANOC members -- including Chambers -- will hold back-to-back meetings and show-and-tells with the commission, updating them on everything from how venue construction is proceeding, to where the Vancouver committee stands on revenue generation, to how well it's sticking to its budget.
Chambers said one key topic will likely be the athletes village in Whistler.
"What has happened is the IOC has asked the organizing committee to develop a village in Whistler that would house more officials than (the Vancouver committee) was first expecting,'' he said.
The request came after a review of the Games in Turin last winter found more officials were needed for the alpine sports as opposed to the skating sports.
The bulk of the alpine events will take place at Whistler and in the nearby Callaghan Valley while the rest will run in the Vancouver area.
Vancouver organizers are still working with Whistler authorities and the IOC to figure out how to accommodate the request, Chambers said.
"It's a question of, well, you had one footprint that you had in mind for the housing development for the purpose of the athletes village. Now, more numbers are asked to be housed on that same footprint. How do you accommodate that?'' Chambers explained.
He said the answer likely lies in a bigger permanent facility or a temporary facility or a combination of both, but a decision hasn't yet been made.
A final solution also needs to be reached on what to do with the world's media.
Vancouver organizers originally wanted to house the 1,600 members of the media in a cruise ship docked in Squamish, mid-way between Vancouver and Whistler. Reporters would be bused to venues in either city each day.
But the International Olympic Committee rejected the plan and an alternative has not been made public.
International Olympic Committee members are unlikely to be phased by an ugly protest last month at an event to mark the three-year countdown before the 2010 Games, Chambers said.
A protester managed to barge onto the stage and shout expletives into a microphone, while nearby, police arrested several people for hurling projectiles.
"I don't think it's (the IOC coordinating committee) going to zero in on that specific incident that was unfortunate,'' Chambers said.
"The IOC would be concerned, I think, with respect to the broader and greater security issue.''
Vancouver organizing committee members will also be eager to hear anything about negotiations surrounding how to divide television revenues.
The committee's final business plan has not yet been release, prompting criticism from the opposition NDP and from anti-Olympic groups.
Chambers said the delay is partly because the revenue side of the plan can't be nailed down until the television issue is resolved.
He said the subject is the responsibility of a different IOC committee than the one visiting Vancouver this week, but the topic will likely come up.
"We in VANOC would like it to be concluded just as soon as many others would.''
The business plan must go before the VANOC board before it is released publicly.
The board's next meeting is March 13, but there's no guarantee the plan will be discussed then, a spokesman said.
